There is no umpire "union". The UIL wants to charge officials a fee themselves. A whole whopping $50.00. The case has been take pro bono, most likely by lawyers that officiate in Texas. It has been tied up wherever for about five years. You should pay better attention at your"association" meetings, where you pay dues to be a member of the "association" that assigns you your UIL high school games.

Personally, I would be more suspicious of how an association spend it's dues since I've never seen our accounting system, a financial statement, or where the monies paid out go to or where.

Longtime union branch treasurer, and state treasurer.

Odd. Two different associations I've been with have a (horribly boring) reading of the accounting crap twice a year and hand out all the relevant data.

Random thoughts on this thread:

As to the OP: Bruce Froemming said on the first day of umpire school one year, "you haven't learned to umpire, until you can umpire drunk!" Obviously, the umpire in the news story in the OP flunked Froemming's school.

I don't know the make-up of the UIL (what percentage of the schools are public and what percentage are private), but looking briefly at the UIL's website, I am going to guess that the SCOTUS' ruling in Brentwood Academy takes the "technicality" out of it...the UIL is assuredly "the state". (I am not weighing in on the merits of any legal disputes raised in this thread, other than to say that the UIL is a "state actor" as that legal term is defined.)

In South Carolina, if two teams play a game using non-certified umpires, then they have actually had an illegal scrimmage. Both teams will likely forfeit their entire season (and that's not my guess...that's what the assistant commissioner for baseball has publicly said.) Schools are told that on the varsity level, they are NOT to play unless they have two SCHSL-certified umpires.

I'll bet UIL wants to be considered the "state". If they are "the state", they win. It used to be that you couldn't tell if TASO was "the "state" (they were the "state" authority over officiating) or "a member Asso" (can't use the word "union"-some people bristle). I think UIL wants to be "the state", complete the wrestling away of any remaing TASO "state" authority over officiating and relegate TASO to "a member Asso" only (which they probably can't survive being). IMO, the TASO law suit is their last ditch attempt to regain some "state" status...can't be done.

UIL is over 99% public (exactly two private schools), and is technically part of the University of Texas.

UIL v TASO lawsuit is quickly coming to an end. A Representative in the Texas House sponsored HB 1775. It passed the House and the Senate, it now awaits the Governor 's signature. From my understanding, the sides came together once this bill was introduced. We will see how it all pans out, as there are other issues on the table, but here is what the bill says, in laymans terms.

- The bill would prohibit the University Interscholastic League (UIL) from registering, charging fees, or requiring membership in any sponsoring organization of sports officials as a precondition to contract with a school district or open-enrollment charter school.
- The bill would prohibit the UIL from sponsoring or organizing any organization of sports officials or influencing the selection of sports officials by school districts or open-enrollment charter schools.
- The bill would allow the UIL to set the rates or fee schedules payable by school districts or open-enrollment charter schools to sports officials.

Maybe we will finally get that pay raise we were expecting a few years ago.

The MichiganHSAA can suspend an official for knowingly officiating with an unregistered official. I know because I almost was suspended for such an infraction. The person that got fined though was the assigner for knowingly assigning unregistered officials to the game.

MTD, Sr.

Don't forget the charter schools.

I used to use Quicken. I could print out just about any form showing deposits, monies paid out, and to who. For the most part I was essentially keeping the checkbook balanced. I actually went to the credit union where our account was, and got old back statements. I finally got it balanced where we had a $1.69 overage............The state "books" were kept very diligently, and came down to the very penny.

We didn't have a set of books, just a checking account.

Our association was supposed to have bylaws. They never provided one. After a few requests, I just gave up.

Both Houston and Dallas chapters post theirs online, viewable if you're a registered official.

They never told me they were online. Stopped officiating this year due family health issues. Too hard to commit to availability.

As does the Tyler Chapter. We also have our Policy and Procedures, Pay Sheet, Evaluation Sheet, in addition to the By-Laws posted online.